Letter-file



(ModeL) 0. W. HAWKS & G. H. WARREN.

LETTER FILE.

Patented Jun e 28, 1887.

n. rzfzns. mun-Wm. Washington. a. c,

U ITED STATES PATENT QFFI E.

CHARLES w. HAWKS AND GEORGE H. WARREN, or SHELBURNE FALLS,MASSACHUSETTS.

LETTER-FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 365,597, dated June 28,1887.

Application filed August 31,1883. Serial No.10ii,253. (Modeh) To allwhom, it may concern:

Be it known'that we, CHARLES WV. HAWKS and GEORGE H. WARREN, bothofShelburne Falls, in the town of Shelburne, in the county of Franklin andState of Massachusetts, have made certain new and useful Improvements inLetter-Files, whereof the following is a specification, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, in'which- Figure 1' shows a view inelevation of our letter-file with its cover in the closed position. Fig.2 shows a vertical. section taken through the line 00 w of Fig. 1. Fig.3 shows a punching mechanism attached to the base-board of the file.Fig. 4. shows in elevation the base of the file holding the uprightreceiver on which letters are placed. Fig. 5 shows a letter or paperpunched for filing. Fig. 6 shows in elevation the hinged. plate, towhich letters are transferred to remove others from underneath them.

The several figures are not drawn to the same scale, but similar lettersdenote the same parts.

Attached to the base-board A is thebase B, which is preferably ametallic casting on which is cast the boss a, and in which are twoopposite chambers, b b, which hold the hinge-plate O by its projectionsc 0' in bearings d d in the chambers. The motion ofthe hinged plate islimited to the play allowed between the sides e e of one or both thechambers. Into the base Bis permanently fastened the stationary plate orreceiver D, so called because it receives the letters to be filed. Thehinged plate 0 is held up into plate by the fiat spring E, which ispreferablymadeo'f thin sheet springsteel, and is placed in a seat castin the base B, and fastened by the rivet a, passing through a hole madein it for the purpose. The end f of the hinged plate works upon thespring E, and the bearings d d are so located relative to said springthat the part of the plate between the bearings and the spring is intheshortest radial distance from the bearings as a center when saidplate is midway between the two positions shown in Fig. 2, whereby whenit passes that position the spring aids in driving it toward and holdingit in either of said two positions toward which it may be passed.

ing corner on said lever on the other side of the part one or more .ofwhich corners act like cams to depress said spring when said lever isturned in either direction. Said lever I is hinged into the casting G,as shown, and its arm N is serrated with notches r3 2', 850. The punch gis stationary and has its top constructed with cuttingedges and curved,as shown,

whereby when a letter is placed in the punching mechanism betweenthespring-plates Hand Z and the lever depressed a shearing-cut, 7c, ismade in it. The upright part and its opening are of such shape as to outa hole in the letter of such form that when the receiver -D enters itfits the same, and by reaction against one or more of the sides of thehole prevents the paper from swaying or sidewise motion and holds itfirmly in place.

Underneath the spring H is a supplementary sheet-metal spring, Z, whichis turned down at its front end and guides the paper over the uprightcutter or punch g and into place for punching, the arms on m of thecasting G acting as stops to hold the paperin proper place for punching.The arm N of the lever is held in the upright position Shown in Fig. 2by the reaction of the spring-plate H upon the square face it h. In Fig.2 areshown the sheets K in place filed.

To the base-board is attached, by the long spring plates 12 n, a cover,L. Said springs are made in two parts, which are hinged together attheir junction, as shown, and are attached to each of the boards farenough from their junction to allow the cover to be raised aconsiderable distance above the base-board for the insertion of lettersbetween them, and yet to hold said cover by springpressure down upon theletters.

If the arm N be moved forward or backward slightly, it will be replacedby the springplate H, acting on its square face h h. To the lower end ofthe cover is affixed a metallic plate, 0, through which (and through thecover, if projecting so far as shown) is an opening, located inposition, when the cover is brought down upon the letters, to strike itsfront edge upon the inclined face q ofthe arm N and drive said arm backslightly and pass down over the similar inclined faces of the notches iiuntil it rests upon the letters, when the spring-plate H drives forwardthe lever-arm N, and the plate 0 is caught in one of the notches if,whereby the cover is fastened in place, as bya spring-catch. Throughsaid opening is then passed the arm of a small padloclg s, if it isdesired to lock the letters from inspection, which prevents the metallicplate 0 from being detached from the notch in which it may be.

The opening or passage in the groove I, be tween the curved edges andside of the receiver D, is continued through the base B, and may becontinued through the base-board, if desired, and is for convenience ofpassing a string, ribbon, or metallic binder through the papers filedwhile in place on the receiver to no or bind them for filing away.

The purposes of the receiver are, first, to hold a paper filed on itfrom motion of the whole sheet separately from the receiver in anydirection in its own plane, and, second, to hold 1t from rotation in itsown plane about the re ceiver. These purposes maybe accomplished withvarious forms of the receiver and of the perforation in the paperthrough which it passes. A relative construction of the two elementsonly is required, which is shown in our device. Thus the first purposeis accomplished by constructing the perforation and the receiverrelatively to each other, so that the perforation is large enough toadmit the receiver, and when the receiver is in place in it, and thepaper is filed thereby, the material at the side or sides of theperforation must fit upon the contour of the cross-section of thereceiver taken in the same plane as that of the ad acentpaper in placefiled upon it, and cover with fitting surface three or morebearingpoints on said contour located in position to prevent motion ineither direction in the plane of thepaper, freedom enough being allowedof course to permit the easy filing and removal of the sheets. Receivershaving some forms of contour of the cross-section requirebearingsurfaces covering four bearing-points, regular quadrilaterals,for example, requiring one on each side. And the second purpose isaccomplished when the paper is on the receiver filed if some part of thecontour of the receiver against which the paper at the side of the per-The hinged transfer-plate C has a like contour, to prevent rotation outof place of papers thereon. The fiat or plate form of the plates C and Dis adopted because it is substantial, cheaply made by punching fromsheet metal and striking up the edges, and affords the greatest widthfor resisting rotation or other motlon with the least possible material,and consequently the least possible perforation of the filed papers. D

Some files have been have made with receivers to hold papers which arefiled upon them by the process of passing the receiver through thepaper, the perforation being thereby made by the receiver itself, whichis sharpened or pointed to penetrate it, of which receivers thecross-section has the required form to prevent rotation when in anaperture fitting them; but this process of making a perforation withouta separate punching mechanism often leaves it ragged at the edges,tearing the paper sometimes enough so that the receiver is inoperativeto prevent rotation. The addition to the same base-board as part of theoperative ma chine of a punching mechanism adapted to punch aperforation having the relations described to the contour of thecross-section produces better results. In such receivers also which havea suitable form to prevent rotation the necessity of a pointed or sharpend necessarily small to perforate the paper with the expense ofconstructing an interior passage in the form other than circular whilean external groove would be inoperative because the paper would be cutin form to fill it, have rendered impracticable the construction of alongitudinal passage through which to pass the ribbon or binder whilethe papers are in place filed. But in our file the receiver has agroove, P, making a longitudinal passage through the receiver and basecombined with the contour of cross-section described, a cross-section ofwhich passage is indicated by the interior edge of the upper end of thereceiver and the dotted line connecting the curved edges thereof. Theopening in the papers filed will occur if the perforation is larger insome part than the cross-section of the receiver, provided the receiverand perforation are constructed, as deseribed, to prevent motion orrotation of the paper; but it is preferable that it should be protectedby the curved edges, as in this case.

Another element of this invention is the construction of the punchingmechanism. with its notched lever and its attachment to the baseboard toprovide a spring-catch for the cover.

\Vhat we claim as our invention, and for which we pray Letters Patent,is

1. In a letter-file, the base B, mounted on the board A, and havingattached to it a receiver, D, of elongated form, for the filing ofsheets of paper by its insertion through perforations thereof, asdescribed, combined with a punch mounted on the same base-board A, andadapted, as described, relatively to said receiver as formed to punch ina sheet to be filed, and a perforation coincident therewith having sidesfitting on said inserted receiver at a sufficient nu mber of salientpoints to prevent rotation of the filed sheet upon the receiver.

2. In a letter-file, the base B, base-board A, punch F, and the receiverD, attached to the base B, and having the longitudinal passage I, allsaid parts being constructed and arranged to operate substantially asdescribed.

3. 'A letter-file having a receiver for the filing of letters by itsinsertion through perforations thereof and attached toabase-board,combined with a cover hinged to the same base-board andva punch adaptedto punch said perforations and attached to the same base-board, andhaving alever-arm for the purposes of its actuation, notched,asdescribed,against which arm a spring attached to said punch bears, asdescribed, said spring and lever-arm arranged relatively to said coverand constructed, as

described, to act as a spring-catch to engage and hold the cover inplace in different-positions on the filed letters.

4B. In a letter-file, the cover L, hinged to the attached to saidbase-board, as described, all 0 said parts being-constructed andarranged substantially as described.

CHARLES W. HAWKS. GEORGE H. WARREN.

In presence of" H. H. MAYHEW, A. K. HAWKS.

